


Utterly Fangtastic

by Warped_Nacelle



Category: Monster High
Genre: Bullying, High School, Homophobia, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Magic, Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 20:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12992136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warped_Nacelle/pseuds/Warped_Nacelle
Summary: Monster High claims to be a place of acceptance, but who gets left out? “Utterly Fangtastic” explores homophobia and bullying at the high school and the quest for an O.C. to find a place in a school that claims to be about acceptance. Things escalate to the point where several of the students have to use their monstrous abilities to protect themselves from bigotry and violence.





	Utterly Fangtastic

Utterly Fangtastic  
By Warped_Nacelle

They say that Monster High is supposed to be the most inclusive school on the planet. It doesn’t separate monsters out by scareitage or background and everyone is supposed to have a place there. I was really hoping that this could be a place where I could find some friends and start to make some connections.

The place was pretty huge, and it definitely had an aesthetic with the coffin-shaped lockers and fangtastically dressed students. It definitely looked like the sort of place I belonged. The fashions were outrageous and reflected the complicated mix of different backgrounds of the students. There wasn’t that “one style for all” feel that you sometimes get in vampire schools or werewolf schools

The students seemed friendly too. Everyone smiled at me as I passed them in the halls, not seeing me as an outsider because of my banshee scareitage.

One werewolf student was particularly friendly. Of course he was, they are often just like cuddly puppy dogs with boundless energy.

“Hi! My name’s Clawd. Are you new here? Because you kind of look new. I know I haven’t seen you before and you look pretty lost. Anyway, what’s your name?” Everything came out of his mouth in one large sentence.

“I’m Bensheemin Wails. I’m a banshee... but I figure you can see that. So, awkward...”

“Ha ha, no, I’m totally awkward too. So what brought you to Monster High?”

“Same thing as everyone else, I think. I just wanted a place to fit in, and a place where I could be myself.”

“Well, you came to the right place. This place is all about people mixing and mingling no matter what their scareitage. Do you play any sports? I’m part of the Skulltimate Roller Maze Team.”

“I’m not really a sports manster. No offence.”

“That’s okay. There are a tonne of clubs here at Monster High. Are you into any clubs? There are tonnes of different clubs at school.”

“Oh, I was actually wondering. Does Monster High have a GSA?”

“What’s that, like a Ghouls and Spirits Association?”

I laughed “No, no, its a Gay Straight Alliance. I know that many of the Normie High Schools have them and I figured if there would be one anywhere, it would be here at Monster High.”

Clawd looked uncomfortable. His ears were down and his eyes kept darting around the howlway. “Oh - um.... I’m... I’m not... like that. I don’t- uh... I’m not -“

I went from hopeful to enraged in a few seconds. I really hoped there would be a better reception for queer students here. I really hoped that I would find somewhere that my scaritage and my sexuality wouldn’t matter. “Not what - straight?! I didn’t say that I thought you were gay. You don’t have to worry. It’s called Gay Straight Alliance for a reason - so that folks can be allies. You don’t need to be gay to just talk about GSAs.”

His ears were down even further and he was making a low whimpering noise.

A ball suddenly whipped by and at the start I thought someone threw it at me - maybe an act of homophobic hate already? But then Clawd ran off down the howlway after it, back to his perky, cheerful puppy dog self.

A young vampire with a slight pink tone to her skin and pink streaks in her hair came up to me. She was smiling enough that I could see her fangs.

“Sorry about that. Clawd can be... caught off guard by anything new. He doesn’t mean anything by it.”

I could tell she saw the disappointment in my face. I had experienced years of people telling me “Don’t worry, he’s really a good guy. He just doesn’t know better and so he takes it out on queer people” and I had pretty much had enough of hearing it. I pretty much had enough of hearing it years ago.

“Oh sorry” she replied, “You probably hear people making excuses all the time. People should be better than this. Clawd should be better than this. Don’t worry, he’s getting a newspaper across the nose when I see him next... which may be a while. He loves playing with balls - oh, that sounded bad. I meant that he loves playing fetch and then spends a lot of time chewing on the ball until it is destroyed. Sorry, I should introduce myself. I’m Draculaura and I’m glad that you could come to our school!”

I felt so relieved. Finally, someone who actually got it. “I’m Bensheemin Wails.” I shook her hand, “Nice to meet you, Draculaura! I’m really excited to be here at Monster High. So, maybe you know... is there a GSA here at Monster High.”

She looked embarrassed. “No... there isn’t yet. But I think we should start one!!” She cheered up. Somehow her cheeriness was contagious and I felt excited about the possibility of bringing something new to the school.

“So... the question is... how do we do that...?” She pondered to herself. “We will need to start gathering some students who would be interested and then talk to the administration and find out what we need to start the group. It’s always better to have a group of people before going to admin. Ooh ooh ooh, let me introduce you to my best ghoulfriend... well, one of my best ghoulfriends anyway. Her name is Frankie. She should be easy to find. She’s always leaving a bit of a charge.”

I floated after Draculaura down the howlway. No one seemed too bothered by me floating instead of walking. They just seemed to wander past me. There must be others of the haunted and spectral persuasion floating around this school. I hoped to meet a few of them too. I love solids, but there are just some times you want to spend time with folks that are a little less... substantial.

There was a clear bounce in Draculaura’s walk. She seemed to almost dance on her feet as if she wanted to fly with every step just like I was. She was definitely going to be a lot of fun to be around. I was so distracted by her dance that I didn’t notice anyone near me until a hand slapped me across the face.

No... seriously... just a hand.

And it was sort of... green?

“Oh I am so sorry!! This happens all the time” a greenish girl with white and black hair and a lot of stitches came running up to me, trying to grab the green hand as it scurried down my shoulder.

“It’s.... okay?” I said... not really sure that it was okay.

“I really didn’t mean to slap you. Sometimes my hands just get carried away and my locker door stuck and then I tried to really pull it and... well, basically, I am just sorry that I accidentally smacked you. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I just got a bit startled and I didn’t think anything here would startle me. I used to get slapped a lot in my old school and this was just a bit of a reminder.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to slap you at all. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you at all. Neither did my hand. I’m really a friendly person.”

Draculaura stepped in “Bensheemin, this is Frankie Stein. Frankie, this is Bensheemin Wails. He’s our newest student here and I really thought he would like to meet you.”

“It’s great to meet you Bensheemin” Frankie said, offering her hand, which was only attached to her arm by a few stitches.

“Do you want me to... wait a bit to shake hands... you know, until it is attached. You’ve put so much work into it. I don’t want to accidentally tear it off when it is just starting to be reattached.”

“Oh, right”, she said, pulling it back. She tucked the pin in her other hand behind an ear and offered that hand.

“Great to meet you Frankie, and thanks for not accidentally stabbing me with a pin”

Frankie chuckled and I could see sparks light up around the bolts in her neck, “I try to keep my violent incidents to once per day.”

“Lets say twice per day and keep it there for now.” Draculaura added with a wink, “I may not keep track of how many times we accidentally get hurt around you, but Ghoulia has and she has mentioned that it averages out to about twice a day... and a little extra on high stress days. Exams are a real charge around her.”

Frankie chuckled along with her. Their laughter was infectious and I found myself laughing along with them. “I’m so glad that I met-“

“Oh... my... Ra... are the rumours going around this school true? Everyone is talking about how this new guy hit on Clawd, and I am willing to overlook your obvious bad taste in mansters to invite you to be my new gay beast friend. I have been lacking in the GBF department and every popular girl should have one. I’m Cleo by the way... de Nile... yes, those de Niles.”

I turned to look at the flow of words that were coming at me, declaring best friend status before we had even met.

“Uh... thank... you, I guess.” I said, “Maybe we should actually meet before we become beast friends?”

“Oh, of course. Yes. Well, you probably already know all about me...”

I continued to look at her levelly.

“But I want to learn all about you. What’s the scoop with you? How fabulous are you? What do you like to do?”

“I’m Bensheemin Wails. I’m new here, and mostly I just do what all spooks do and haunt the hallways, singing up some trouble when it is the right time, and, you know, just looking to meet some new people.”

“Well, you have met one.”

“Uh, three” Frankie added.

“Yes, whatever.” Cleo replied, “So... when should we go shopping. I would love to get the scoop on what’s hot, what’s not and, most importantly, what’s hot on me! By the way, I just adore the whole torn up sheets look you have going on. It really adds to the way you sashay float down the hallway. Most people wouldn’t notice, but I notice that little swagger in your hips. Ghoul, you are fabulous. We are going to have so much fun.”

“Oh, thank you. I didn’t really notice. Do I really sashay?”

“Oh a ghoul can tell. A ghoul can tell.”

“Ah, I’m into the mall, but I really want to get accustomed to classes here at Monster High first. And, lets find out what these two are up to so we can hang out as a group... if that’s okay ghouls?”

“Yes, we would love to hang out with you.” Draculaura chimed up. Frankie was nodding along.

“Speaking of class, we should really be going there now.” Frankie said, “What do you have this period?”

 

“Ugh, Ge-ogre-phy. I have no interest in the ground... or Ogres either for that matter.” I shrugged “How about you? Anyone else going to Ge-ogre-phy?”

“Mad science for me!!” Frankie piped up, “It’s my favourite...” she looked down at herself “for... obvious reasons.”

“I’m going to... I’m not really as enthusiastic about it as Frankie, but her love of it gets me excited.”

“Looks like you’re on your own Bensheemin, I’m off to Monster Psychology.” Cleo piped up, “But we’ll see you at lunch and we can dish then?” And she actually did sashay down the hallway.

“Come on Bensheemin, we will show you the way to class.”

 

***

As I entered into the Ge-Ogre-phy class, I felt a slap on the back of my head. I assumed it was just another of Frankie’s hands getting away from her and thought I would pick it up and bring it to her, but when I touched it, it didn’t feel anything like hers and was a bit more blue than green.

“Look’it the Fangit is trying to hold hands with my brother. Gross. Can you believe it?” A zombie moaned to my left, giving me her most disgusted look.

The hand that had slapped me belonged to a male zombie who had just slapped the back of my head and was slowly withdrawing his hand. Fortunately zombies are pretty slow moving or I would have gotten punched in the face. I ducked in time.

“How dare you touch me.” He moaned at me in zombish.

“You are the one who hit me. I was just trying to figure out whose hand was on me.” I yelled back.

“How dare you suggest that my brother would touch you!” Yelled the female zombie, “Zombobby is just as disgusted about touching someone like you as I would be.”

I heard a low growl, at first assuming it was one of the zombies about to say something else threatening, but it was a werewolf, claws barred and teeth clenched, “I saw the whole thing. The only thing that is disgusting here is your attitude.”

The zombies both rolled their eyes, showing rot behind the pupil and wandered to desks at the back of the classroom.

“Uh, thanks for that,” I said to the werewolf as she struggled to withdraw her claws. She was still staring at them with yellow eyes and teeth showing.

“Hey, no problem”, she struggled around her teeth, trying to pull them back into her mouth, “I’m Clawdeen. I don’t like to see that kind of thing happen here at Monster High. Why were they attacking you anyway?”

“Oh, didn’t you hear? I’m the new Fangit on campus... apparently.”

She paused for several minutes, “Sorry, it’s just, it’s not a word I hear very often. I just... well, I know you have the right to use it and all if you do identify as gay, but I just get really uncomfortable hearing it, you know?”

“I know. I do too. I just feel like I need to... I don’t know, take it back to get rid of the power it has over me. I’ve been called it so many times that if I don’t take it back from the people who use it toward me, it will have power over me.”

“Hey, I don’t think they’ll bother you for now... but Zombobby and Zombetty are sort of known to harass people and they’re... well they’re a little slow to change their ways. Would you be interested in sitting with me for now?” Clawdeen looked awkward suddenly, “Not that I think you need someone to protect you. I just think it... I don’t know... it might help to have someone around who isn’t going to be a jerk?”

I chuckled “It’s okay. You don’t need to protect my fragile masculine feelings. I’m TOTALLY okay with a ghoul looking out for me” I winked, “If I had too many fragile masculine feelings, they would have been gone long ago, and its really nice to have someone willing to look out for me. I’d love to sit with you.”

Class was as boring as suspected, but Clawdeen was a lot of fun. I noticed that she doodled fashion drawings in the corners of her notebook when the teacher got particularly dry and I couldn’t believe the kind of work that she was doing. I know it is a bit of a stereotype about folks like me, but I actually really did like fashion and I was really impressed with the quality of work that she was doing.

I wrote a note across the top of her page “Could you draw something new and upbeat for me?”

She turned to look at me for several minutes, giving me the assessing look of an artist and then hunched over her page and began to draw quickly, playing with different shapes and perspectives.

I tend to wear a lot of clothes that are fairly big on me. I guess I always wanted to just sort of hide away into the background and that included hiding my body. But she created snug clothes that clung to all the right places and she seemed to have been able to figure out my body type as well as my look pretty quickly. She added a lot more chains than I tend to wear and added more rips and tears to my shirt to really take in the tattered Banshee heritage look, but gave it a really fashion forward, updated look.

I noticed that she had several arrows pointed at different parts of the outfit with the words “pockets” beside them.

I wrote on her sheet “What’s with all the pockets?”

She scribbled across my notebook “You can never have too many pockets. There’s always stuff to carry. Plus, have you seen ghouls’ clothes... never enough pockets. It’s like they don’t think we are into carrying anything.”

“What’s up with that?”

“I know, right?!! It makes no sense. Ghouls need just as many pockets as mansters do. It was one of the first things that got me into fashion. I started sewing little pockets into my dresses. I have continued to do that. I’ve even got pockets in this outfit where I have my sketching pencils and markers.”

I looked her up and down. I would have never noticed. Her clothes seemed to fit snuggly. She chuckled and pulled a grey marker out of the side of her dress.

I laughed until I felt a piece of paper smack the back of my head. I had no doubt who threw it. It seemed to be sticky like it had been chewed on for a bit by someone who had lost a few teeth.

I turned around and saw the two zombies glaring down at me. Zombobby slowly drew his finger across his throat in a threatening movement.

Clawdeen hadn’t noticed. She was too into her artwork and I really didn’t want to point it out to her. She was already so kind to me and I didn’t want to make my problems her problems.

They threw another piece of chewed up paper at me. I had to pull it out of my hair.

The next one bounced off of my head and hit Clawdeen.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me” she yelled and turned around, a low growl coming from her throat.

The ogre at the front of the room, Mr. Ogrinsky, was suddenly beside our desks, “You two haven’t been paying attention all class. Can you tell me what is so much more interesting than Ge-ogre-phy?” He looked down at the notebook that Clawdeen had forgotten to close, “Oh, I see. I’d like you to both go to Headmistress Bloodgood’s office.”

“But Mr. Ogrinsky, those-“

“I don’t want to hear another word from either of you. And you,” he looked at me with loathing, “acting out like this on your first day? This isn’t a good way to start your academic career here at Monster High.”

I knew when to stay silent. I was used to my teachers supporting the bullies over me. I shuffled out of my seat and kept my head down as I made my way to the hall. Clawdeen was a bit less quiet. I could hear her growl following me to the door.

“I’m so sorry about that” she said, “I sometimes let my temper get the better of me. I didn’t want to make things worse for you. I just... I couldn’t handle them acting like this toward you. You have no idea how close I was to leaping over the desks, biting each of them and dragging them out to the school yard and burying them.” She made a couple of biting movements in the air.

I laughed. “Now that, I would have loved to have seen.”

“Well, there’s still time. Do you think Mr. Ogrinsky would notice while he is into talking about ogres and rocks?” She pretended to start walking back to class... at least, I hope she was pretending. I hooked my arm through hers anyway.

“I doubt it.” I said, pulling her toward what I hoped was the headmistress’ office, “How is Bloodgood about... you know, bullying and things?”

“Oh she’s pretty understanding. Like every teacher, she sometimes tends to believe what is easiest and doesn’t really look for what is really happening. So, she’s probably not going to believe us about Zombobby and Zombetty, but I think we need to tell her anyway.”

“I really want to talk to her about another thing too. I really want to create a GSA here at the school and maybe work toward preventing this kind of bullying.”

“She’s pretty good about anti bullying.”

But, when I brought it up with Headmistress Bloodgood at her office, her response wasn’t what I was hoping for.

Her head was resting on the table and she was giving us significant looks while her arms moved. I wasn’t sure if I should look her in the eyes or watch her body language. I kept looking back and forth, and I suspect that she perceived this to be an indicator that I looked ‘shifty’.

“This school,” Bloodgood told us. “Already has an anti bullying policy, and, as I am sure I don’t need to tell you, it is one that has been a model for many other high schools in the region. We are a trend-setter. Besides, this seems to be an inappropriate time to talk about new clubs when you have been sent here for being disruptive in class.”

“But Headmistress,” I piped up, “I don’t think you understand. There are different needs for queer students than there are for other students and anti-bullying doesn’t always encompass all of the needs for students like me.”

“Pardon me, but I would ask that you not use language like that in my office.”

“What, ‘queer’? It’s how I identify. It isn’t a bad word when I am using it for my-“

“I have asked you already not to use it. I won’t be repeating myself again.” She picked up her head and placed it back on her shoulders, “I think we need to talk about the kind of disruption you caused in class. You and Clawdeen interrupted Mr. Ogrinsky’s class and it was your very first class here at Monster High. I am really quite concerned by this. I have been reading your files and have noticed that at your other schools-“

“That was different! I was harassed there, and not just by the students! I was-“

“Please, let me finish. I understand that you are upset and that you feel that you have been persecuted, but that’s not the kind of school Monster High is. We are devoted to creating an inclusive atmosphere that focusses on fostering inclusion for people from all different scaritages. If you give this school a chance, you will find your place here. You just need to find your place... and disrupting classes is not a good way to do that. I expect that you will offer Mr. Ogrinsky an apology?”

I nodded.

“And you will be staying after school for the next week, so hopefully that will give you time to figure out what this school is going to mean for you and help you to find your place in it.” She swivelled in her chair.

I assumed that she was done talking to me, so I walked out.

Clawdeen looked up at me hopefully from her chair in the hallway outside Bloodgood’s office. I shook my head. She got up, looking a lot less hopeful and knocked lightly on the headmistress’ door.

 

***

 

The creepateria was quiet when I entered and everyone seemed to turn to stare at me and then work very hard not to stare at me. Fortunately, Draculaura and Frankie quickly ran up to me and stood on either side of me. It helped to have a little bit of a shield from all of the staring.

“So, we should probably let you know” Frankie whispered, “That Zombobbie and Zombetty have been telling everyone that you have been discriminating against them for being Resurrectionists and that you have been fabricating homophobic incidents as a form of religious persecution against them for their beliefs.”

“What?! I don’t even know what Resurrectionists are, and I didn’t know that they were Resurrectionists. Also, they are being homophobic. They have literally hit me and thrown things at me for being queer.”

“We know” Draculaura said, “Clawdeen told us everything that happened in first period. Apparently the Headmistress asked Zombobbie and Zombetty down to her office after you and Clawdeen talked to her and their mother, Ms. Grey came into the school and said that her children were being persecuted for their religious beliefs. They have already started tweeting to everyone that they are being harassed by the new kid.”

“Are you kidding me? How does them harassing me and me being harassed by them now constitute me persecuting them.”

Frankie shook her head, “People have already been saying that you and Clawdeen were disrupting class too and rumours have already gone around that you have been kicked out of all of your previous schools.”

“You don’t believe that, do you?”

“No, no of course not.” Said Frankie, quickly, “We know that you have experienced harassment before and had to leave.”

I felt tears come to my eyes “And it happens everywhere I go. No matter what. I was really hoping Monster High would be different, but I’m getting into the same sort of things that always happen.”

Draculaura noticed the tears forming in my eyes, “Look, lets get out of here and sit outside for lunch, okay? Frankie, maybe you could pick up something for Bensheemin?”

“Of course”

I could feel Draculaura’s tiny hand on my back, helping to walk me toward the door. I knew that some of the other students had probably seen the tears start to form and I knew I would have to deal with that on top of everything else, but I also just didn’t have the energy to hold back the tears any longer.

I broke into full sobs in the hallway, trying to cover my face with my arm.

“Draculaura,” I heard Clawd call down the hallway, “What’s going on here?”

“Not now Clawd.” She said, eyes flashing red.

“Why are you holding another guy like that?”

“I said not now Clawd. I will talk to you later.”

He seemed to clue in to the fact that Draculaura was comforting me and that I was not, in fact, trying to steal his girlfriend, “Oh, right... Uh, sorry... again.”

The fresh air seemed to help a bit and Clawdeen and Frankie joined Draculaura and I under one of the trees outside. We avoided taking about anything really serious, instead just making light banter. I knew that they wanted to let me talk about what I needed to and that they didn’t want to push me to look at what was happening in my life once again.

Food seemed to be helping... at least I hoped that this was food. It sort of resembled food...

A shadow fell over us and I looked up to see Cleo looking down at us “I thought we were supposed to meet in the creepateria? I was waiting and waiting for you.”

“Oh Cleo, I’m sorry” Frankie said, “We had a bit of an emergency and needed to get outside for a bit.”

Her eyes softened a bit, and Cleo seemed to realize what kind of emergency we were talking about “Oh, well, yes. But someone could have at least sent me a message!” She sighted “Anyway, it is probably best that you did leave. They were being horrible in there. For some reason everyone is saying that you are a religious bigot?”

“Yes, so I’ve heard” I replied.

“I figured it was totally a lie. You didn’t seem like the sort of person that would be bigoted, but they said you were harassing the Greys in class because of their religious beliefs and that you got caught by the Ge-ogre-phy teacher?”

“That’s not what happened at all” Clawdeen seemed to annunciate every other word, “They slapped Bensheemin across the back of the head when we came into class and then spent the whole time throwing things at him. He didn’t do anything” She began to quietly mutter “Though I would have done something if I hadn’t gotten out of there when I did.”

“Oh my Ra” Cleo replied, “are you serious?”

“Afraid so” I said.

“They are trying to make you seem like a bigot while they are attacking you?! That’s it, I’m clearing this up. Mass tweet! Right now!” Cleo began texting furiously, fingers racing across the phone, “I’m not letting my GBF be harassed on his first day here!”

There she went with the gay best friend thing again. But at least her heart was in the right place.

“Cleo, thank you, but don’t worry about it. It’s not like it will change anything anyway.”

“Are you underestimating my popularity? If anyone is going to convince them that you are being harassed, it’s going to be me. Everyone knows I always tell it like it is.”

“Oh, sorry Cleo, that’s not what I meant. It’s just... every time I try to stand up for myself... well, it just sort of gets worse. I really don’t want to have to leave this school, especially since I met such great ghouls already.”

Frankie chimed in “There is no way that we’re letting you leave this school... well, unless you want to, but we will fight to make sure that this school is a safe space for you just like it is a safe space for so many others.”

“Yea” Clawdeen chimed in, “I’m not going to let them harass you, and I’m going to stand up for you.” She paused “If that is okay with you, of course.”

I was teary eyed again. I noticed that I wasn’t alone in my teary eyed look.

“Awwww, group selfie” Cleo dropped down beside us, hugging all of us in close as she snapped a picture, “Its a good thing that we all still look cute when we cry. Hey,“ she turned to look at me with a serious expression, “maybe that’s why they keep harassing you - jealousy much?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle along, wiping tears from my face. “Well, you know, Banshees are known for their weeping. I guess I just have a talent for it! Just be glad I am keeping my voice to myself... That would be no fun for anyone.”

“Oh I’m sure you have a-“ Draculaura began “Oh, right, the whole Banshee wail thing. Right. Good point. No wailing.”

“Ya, this school needs a bit of a wake-up call... but maybe not one that is quite so... potent?” Frankie chimed in, “Speaking of calls... there goes the bell. I guess it’s back to class. What do you have this afternoon?”

“Biteology”

Clawdeen cursed “The twins will definitely be in that class with you and I’m in Dead Languages. Are any of you ghouls in Biteology?”

“Cleo and I are” Draculaura said, “And it will be great to have someone else there with me because I... tend to get a little woozy around... well... blood and everything.”

“Seriously, you are a vampire that is afraid of blood.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them, “Oh, I am so sorry, that sounded awful of me. It just caught me off guard. I am just reminded what a great place this is for students who are different, where there can be a vampire who is afraid of blood and it is accepted.”

“Yes, I’m a vegetarian. I can’t even look at the...” she seemed to swallow back a gag, “red stuff.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay conscious during class to keep Zombobby and Zombetty away from you” Cleo chimed in, “As long as class isn’t too boring.”

Draculaura rolled her eyes at Cleo.

 

***

It was amazing that no one seemed to notice Zombobby and Zombetty throwing things at me again. This time, they made sure of their aim and neither Cleo nor Draculaura got hit by paper, though I noticed Cleo hold her phone up over her head, clearly trying to snap a picture of the two of them harassing me, so I knew that she wanted to help out. Draculaura seemed to have her own concerns since our teacher was talking about next week’s dissection projects.

“Damn, I didn’t get them on film” Cleo muttered to me as we left class, “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about what they were doing during class, but I was hoping to catch them on film and didn’t want to tip them off. I had to keep lowering my phone though every time Ms. Veratu turned to face the class. I’m just always glad that she gets so into Biteology that she forgets to look at the students most of the time and instead writes so much on the board... well, at least this time I was glad of it... normally it bores me to tears.”

“I know, and I appreciate it Cleo”

“Wait, what?” Draculaura chimed in, “How did I not notice any of this? I’m so sorry, I should have been a better support.”

“Oh, Draculaura, I could see that you were going through enough on your own. You were really choking back those gags every time she mentioned an incision.”

“Oh” she looked pale again, “Could we not mention the ‘i’ word for a while?”

“Sorry”, I said, patting her on the back.

My locker was pretty near to Cleo’s and when we got there, I found a note taped to the front of it. The note had hastily cut out letters taped onto it with the words “You have until next week to leave.”

I showed the note to Cleo.

“Oh my Ra, you have to be kidding me. Now they are making threats? They must know that we would go to the Headmistress with this.” Cleo set off down the howlway with a determined expression that told even me that I shouldn’t try to stop her mission.

She slammed the letter down on the Headmistress’ desk, “How about this for proof that Bensheemin is being harassed?”

The Headmistress looked levelly at her. “It’s interesting that you should say this because they were just in here with identical letters saying that Bensheemin has placed them on their lockers. I don’t know what is going on here, but I don’t like it. If you want to tell me what is going on, now would be a good time.”

“We keep telling you what is going on. Bensheemin is being harassed because he is gay.” Cleo said, “As much as we all want to believe that this school is tolerant, even tolerant schools can have bigots... and we have them.”

“I just can’t -“

“Accept it” Cleo replied.

“How dare you talk to me like that, young lady.”

“You are letting your hope for a good place cloud your judgement. You aren’t seeing what is happening. I wouldn’t be talking like this if you would just listen and make sure that my friend had some protection.”

“I think we need to calm things down here. I am going to propose that Bensheemin you and your family meet with Zombobby, Zombetty, and their parents and we all talk about this and try to resolve things.”

“There’s just one problem” I whispered, “My parents sort of kicked me out of the house when I told them I was gay. I’m actually living with a foster family right now... and they don’t know much about me. I don’t know how much they can really help... They don’t - well, they don’t even know that I am gay.”

Cleo looked horrified. She wrapped one of her arms around my shoulders, “I’m so sorry for all that you have gone through. I can’t even imagine.”

“Well, I’m afraid you may have to tell them and have them come to a meeting with everyone.” The Headmistress said, “I am compassionate to your situation, I really am, but I can’t let this sort of thing continue here on campus.”

“There has to be another way” Cleo said, “You can’t put him in a situation like this. Can’t you look into this on your own and figure out that we are telling you the truth?”

“How do I know which of you is telling the truth? These are pretty serious claims... from both sides. The Board of Deaducation takes religious persecution very seriously.”

“I haven’t said anything to anyone about religion. I didn’t know anything about what beliefs Zombobby and Zombetty practiced. They attacked me unprovoked for being gay.”

“As we keep telling you” Cleo added.

“And unfortunately they have provided the same sort of evidence that you have Mr. Wails and Ms. De Nile.”

“Can me and my father at least attend the meeting with Bensheemin and the Greys?” Cleo asked, “I think that given the circumstances, Bensheemin can’t expect much help from his foster parents.”

“I’m afraid that would be inappropriate, Ms. De Nile. This is a family matter. Mr. Wails, I expect that you will talk to your parents - sorry, your foster parents - tonight and then meet with me and the Grey family tomorrow evening after school. Now, I would like you and Cleo to both go to your final classes. You will already be late for them.” The Headmistress picked up her head and rotated her chair away from us.

 

***

As predicted, the conversation with my foster parents did not go well. This is one of the ironies of queer existence. Queer kids grow up generally with straight parents (and foster parents), which means there is often at least some distance in experience between our parents and ourselves, and in the case of my foster parents, all of those differences came out in the form of anxieties.

“But what do we do with the other children under our care? How can we guarantee that they are safe?” My foster mother said.

“I just came out as gay. That doesn’t mean that I am unsafe to be around others. It’s not something contagious. They aren’t going to catch gay from me.”

“Keep your voice down, young manster. We don’t deserve to be talked to like that.” Added my foster father.

“You are literally telling me that I am a threat to other people just because I am gay.”

“We have to be concerned about all of the children under our care.” My foster mother’s voice was pleading, but I don’t think she was pleading with me. I think she was convincing herself that she was doing the right thing by viewing me as a threat and justifying her actions to herself.

“Why do you need to be concerned about the other kids? What are you worried could happen to them?”

“We don’t know you very well Bensheemin” She said, “And, well, there are other boys in the house and we just don’t think that -“

“Are you saying that you think I am some sort of sex offender?”

“No” my foster father said, “She is just worried- concerned that - well, that this wouldn’t be appropriate for them.”

“You have boys and girls living under the same roof, so why do you assume that me living here is going to be inappropriate.”

“Do not sexualize these children!!” He screamed at me.

“Don’t you see that you are already sexualizing me? You assume that I am some sort of sexual predator. You assume that I am going to be inappropriate with the other children Why? Because I am gay? Do you know that the vast majority of cases of sexual assault are committed by people who identify as straight?”

“How dare you!” He continued screaming, his face turning red and his body shaking, “How dare you accuse us of... of that.”

“I didn’t accuse you of anything.”

“I need you to leave this room immediately. In fact, I need you to leave this house. I will sort things out with your caseworker, but I can’t tolerate that kind of accusation.”

Fortunately Cleo had given me her phone number and told me that her family had room in their pyramid if I needed a place to stay. She wasn’t any more optimistic about this conversation than I was.

****

“We heard you let it stay at your house last night” I heard Zombetty moan quietly at Cleo, “I guess you didn’t have to worry about it molesting you!”

I noticed Cleo briefly touch her phone, “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Oh nothing.” Zombetty said, “And nice move. Try being a bit more subtle about it next time.”

I was really hoping she would say something that Cleo could get on tape.

Zombetty noticed Cleo flick her phone off, “Oh, and by the way, you’re on our list now too. As far as we’re concerned, you’re one of them now.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I would never do that.” Zombetty slowly growled, “Never threaten.” She hollered over her shoulder as she walked down the hall.

“Damn” I said to Cleo, “I really wish she hadn’t noticed your phone. I wish we could have caught all of that on tape.”

“Oh you did” a voice said behind me, seeming to come out of the wall. I noticed a little translucent hand holding a cell phone out of the corner of the wall. A face appeared after it. “Spectra. Spectra Vondergeist” the ghostly face said.

I admit, I definitely jumped a little bit when she spoke to me. Even though my foster parents were ghosts, I really hadn’t spent enough time around them to get used to them passing through walls... and although banshees could pass through walls, my family and I rarely did. We tended to go about most things like solids. It was a bit tougher for us to move through walls than for ghosts.

“Oh sorry, I have a habit of startling people” Spectra said, “I’m sort of Monster High’s journalist... or, well, columnist anyway. I like to keep on top of the news and reading Cleo’s tweets about your side of the story after hearing everything that Zombobby and Zombetty said meant I needed to get an insider scoop on what was really going on. This story was just too juicy to give up.”

“Thank you! You have no idea what this means to me. We finally have some evidence of what has been going on.”

“Not enough yet, I’m afraid” Spectra said, “the Headmistress likes to have all of the facts available to her.”

“And she really doesn’t want to believe anything Bensheemin is saying either” Cleo pointed out, “She really wants to believe this school is a place that is free from bigotry and is willing to believe the bigots to keep her delusions in place.”

“Oh Cleo,” I said, realizing that she had now gotten a target painted on her back because she was kind to me, “I’m so sorry that they are now after you too! You don’t deserve any of this.”

“Neither do you!” Spectra said, “That much is obvious just from watching the way they just treated the two of you. Now, I don’t mean to creep you out, but I am going to be keeping tabs on you throughout the day, so if you get a little chill on the back of your neck... it’s just me watching you.”

“That was very comforting.” Cleo smiled sarcastically at Spectra, “I’m sure he will be comforted knowing that it is just you creeping him out rather than a stranger.”

“Yes, I thought so.” Spectra said, darting back into the wall.

I noticed a cell phone poke out of the locker a few steps away. She really was sticking close.

 

***

In Clawculus, I finally noticed another student... a cute other student... and he was wearing rainbow colours, which I took as a good sign. Even his hair had streaks of rainbow through it... and he had a beautiful horn. No, I’m not being perverted. He had a literal unicorn horn sticking out of his forehead.

I turned to Frankie, “Hey, who is that guy?”

“Which one?” Frankie whispered back.

“The one with the unicorn horn?”

“Oh, that’s Neighthan Rot. He is a really nice guy.” She seemed to clue in “Oooh, you mean” she turned on a sexy voice “who is that guy?”

“Yes” I giggled quietly, “I mean, who is that guy. He doesn’t look quite like a unicorn, but he seems to have a unicorn horn.”

“Oh ya. He is one of our hybrid students. He is half unicorn and half zombie. He’s been through a lot. He’s had to deal with discrimination at other schools just like the other hybrid students did.”

“Oh”

“You know, I have a bit of a problem with that term too - hybrid. It makes it seem like he is not quite one monster and not quite another.”

“I wonder though. He has probably been made to feel like that every day of his life. Even if no one says it, people would probably still treat him as a hybrid, as an outsider to some degree.”

“We worked really hard to include the hybrid students when they first arrived.”

“But that’s sort of what I mean. Everyone had to work to include them, right? Because they had already experienced so much alienation.”

“It’s true. They’ve become an important part of the school, and you know what, it gives me hope that you can find a place here too.”

“I hope so too” But I still didn’t believe I would.

“Hey Frankie” I asked, “Do you think that... that Neighthan might be like me in other ways too? I mean, he’s wearing a rainbow and that is a pride symbol... and I don’t know, it’s like he’s possibly triggering my gaydar.”

“Oh, is that really a thing?” She asked.

“Yes. No. I don’t know? Maybe?”

“Oh. I hadn’t really thought of it before. He’s really kind. He seems really understanding of people. He hasn’t had a girlfriend before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is interested in having a boyfriend. I honestly don’t know...”

“Maybe I should ask - Wait. You said he is half zombie, right?”

She nodded.

“He isn’t part of the same religion as Zombobby and Zombetty is he? The Resurrectionists?”

“Now, I’m getting a bit worried that you might be a bit biased against the Resurrectionists...”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, if I ask him, will he be bigoted against me too? Am I going to make him uncomfortable by asking him.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think so. He seems pretty open. And like I said, he’s been discriminated against too.”

My eyes kept wandering back to him, watching as he tossed his rainbow hair occasionally while he tried to sort through various Clawculus equations in his book. It’s probably what I should be doing, especially since Frankie seemed pretty distracted with my chatting and seemed to really want to get back into Clawculus. She seemed like she might be into Mad Sciences and she would need Clawculus to get into a good Mad Sciences programme at University.

I even thought his clumsiness was adorable. He kept accidentally crinkling up his paper ever time he moved on to the next equation, and his pencil was never where he wanted it to be. He would set it down, accidentally sending it spiralling into the air and then have to shuffle out of his seat to find it.

At one point, he even dropped his pencil, tried to catch it with his foot as it fell and ended up kicking it right into the front of the teacher’s desk. I tried not to chuckle as he awkwardly looked around and pretended nothing happened and then pulled another pencil out of his case.

At least he was prepared for his awkward situations.

As we left class, I tried to catch up with him, which was difficult because he was clearly trying to hurry out of class before he tripped on anyone... else. He had already stumbled over a skeleton and sent the two of them colliding into the chalk board and was making a hasty exit to not cause any more accidents.

I felt like a jerk when I realized that I had left Frankie behind to try to follow Neighthan. She caught up with me chuckling. “You are adorable. You really wanted to meet him, didn’t you?”

“I really do. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take off on you like that. I really appreciate our friendship and its just that... I guess it would be nice to talk to someone who knows what I am going through.”

“And is cute too?” She winked.

“Okay, that too.”

“Well, I know my way around. You go ahead and catch up with him. But I want to hear all about what he says to you afterward. Meet me at my locker?”

“Sure.”

I was already pushing my way through the other students. I know, I know, probably not the best thing to do when people already think I am a bigot. But i figured gentle nudges wouldn’t get me in too much more trouble, and I could see that rainbow mane wandering further down the hallway.

“Pssst” I thought I heard.

“Psst” again

I paused in my walk after Neighthan, “Hello?”

“Over here, in the wall. It’s me - Spectra.”

I could see a faint glow and then was able to see her fingertips coming out of the wall. Her face appeared like last time.

“Hi Spectra. Sorry I didn’t notice you.”

“Have you seen Cleo?”

“No. Why?”

“I just saw Zombobby at Cleo’s locker. He had broken into it somehow and was rearranging all of her artifacts.”

Frankie appeared behind me, “Wait, which artifacts?”

“The ones in her locker.”

“No, I mean, which ones? She’s got some powerful amulets and hexes in there. I don’t know why she keeps them in there, but they could be really dangerous. Do you remember which ones he was fiddling with?”

“Uh, something that looked like a jar with the head of an angry dog on it.... a beetle shaped amulet... a black jug with a whole bunch of weird symbols on it-“

“Wait, did one of the symbols look like an eye with pretty blue make-up around it?” Frankie interjected.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“Oh, we have to get to her right away.”

“Why, what’s up?” I asked, following her. Spectra seemed to have disappeared again - hopefully taking some short cuts through the walls to warn Cleo.

“I don’t really know what it does, but I know that she is weird about anyone even going near it. She always says ‘you won’t like what you will become’. I really have no idea why she keeps these things, and especially in her locker.”

“It sounds like we really need to get to it before anything happens to her.”

We wheeled around the corner just in time to see Cleo open her locker and several charms fall out on her head. The black jug crashed against the top of her head, spilling a shimmering sand around her.

There was the sound of howling deserts, of sand churning against rock. The shimmering sand seemed to whirl around her, picking up various of her other artifacts and pulling them against her body. Her skin itself seemed to turn into sand and the various amulets and jars seemed to get sucked into her body, becoming part of her.

I could still see them glowing through her body at various points. They were swirling away inside of her, drifting through her sandy flesh.

The wrappings around her arms, which she would tell us were designer wraps, were now flapping in a wind that seemed to come from inside her. They whirled around her with the sand, cocooning her. All I could see were black iridescent eyes looking out through the wrappings. All I could hear was the rasping of ancient breath being inhaled and exhaled.

I realized that Zombetty was standing just around the corner. She was whispering something in zombish, growling out a steady stream of words “Ancient spirits of the sands of time, bring about the torturous death of Bensheemin Wails.”

This explained why Cleo’s dark eyes were staring at me through the shroud of her bandages.

I realized that I didn’t know much about mummies in general, and I particularly didn’t know anything about mummies that had been magically charged up with amulets and ancient artifacts. I had no idea what to expect from her.

“Cleo” I said over the howling of the wind and she was instantly at my throat, her fingers tight around my windpipe. My first defence was to scream, like it would be for any Banshee, but I couldn’t even squeak out a sound.

I tried to go insubstantial, to escape by turning ghostly, but somehow whatever magical brew was pumping through Cleo’s system gave her the power to hold on to even my ghostly form.

I smelled ozone in the air and saw a flash of lightning come from Frankie’s extended hands. It tried to touch various parts of Cleo’s body but wherever it tried to ground, Cleo’s body turned to sand, letting the electricity pass through it.

“Cleo. Stop! Let Bensheemin go” Frankie was yelling over and over as she unleashed her lightning.

I was starting to black out. Little ghosts of shadow were dancing into my vision.

Clawed fingers raked in front of my face and I saw Cleo’s hand fall off, turning to sand.

Clawdeen looked terrified at what she had done. She couldn’t believe that she had cut off Cleo’s hand, but it also had seemed like the only way that she could possibly save me.

Cleo belted her across the face before she could recover, sending her spiralling against a locker across the howlway. I really hoped that Clawdeen was as tough as she looked because she hit hard enough to dent the metal of the lockers.

Clawdeen fell from the indent in the lockers, dropping to all fours and then kept again at Cleo. She raked her claws across Cleo’s arms saying “Please Cleo, don’t make me do this. Please come to. Please wake up from whatever this is.”

Cleo’s body kept turning to sand, avoiding Clawdeen’s nails. Any parts that Clawdeen had severed whirled back into sand and rejoined Cleo’s body.

Neither of them seemed to be getting tired.

Frankie was trying to carefully send electrical jolts toward Cleo, hoping that she was distracted enough to get stunned and that somehow the electricity would taze her where the claws were seeming ineffective.

Nothing seemed to be working. I was still trying to get my voice back. I let out a quick few squawks of sound, but nothing strong enough to be effective.

I was trying to massage my throat, running my fingers along it to try to get the sound to be able to come forth. Finally I was able to let my scream go.

I couldn’t hear it the same way that others did. I only sort of heard an absence of any background noise, but I saw everyone clutch their ears.

Cleo seemed to stumble under the waves of sound that were colliding with her body. She kept trying to take steps toward me, but the force of my scream kept pushing her back, sand streaming off of her body.

I was starting to see some of the artifacts appearing through her body as the sand and the wrappings were pushed aside. I reached out and grabbed at a black cat figure, tossing it down the howlway behind me.

Her hands were trying to reach for me, but kept getting blown back by my scream.

I grabbed at a scarab beetle near her shoulder, tossing it behind me, picked out a green amulet shaped like a mummy and threw that aside too.

I hoped I could get rid of enough of the amulets that had incorporated into her body before my voice gave out, but it was already slipping, already feeling like there were knives going up and down my vocal cords... and I was starting to hear things again, which meant that my powers were weakening.

I looked over to Clawdeen who was writhing around on the ground in pain, whimpering and covering her ears. I hadn’t thought about what the sound would do to a werewolf with such sensitive hearing.

Frankie seemed almost as out of commission. Her neck bolts were barely sparking.

And my voice was cutting out. It was cracking. This felt like puberty all over again, but with much worse consequences.

Cleo’s hands began to rise toward me again and she was lumbering forward, taking a stride with each note that dropped from my voice.

I kept stepping backward, trying not to trip over anyone while still keeping the sound focussed on Cleo.

A spectral hand darted out of a nearby locker and plunged into Cleo’s body.

Spectra saw what I had been doing and was trying to help, plucking amulets out of Cleo while she could, using her insubstantiality to pull out shards of enchanted pottery.

Cleo seemed to be slowing down. She wasn’t propelled forward with the same force as before, but her eyes were still dark and still fixated on me with loathing.

A bat flew awkwardly into the stream of my voice, getting tossed on the air and in obvious pain. It flapped its wings through the sound waves, colliding with a few lockers along the way. But it wasn’t aimed at Cleo. It flew right past her and for a while, I worried that I had just hurt my friend Draculaura.

I realized that she wasn’t trying to get to Cleo. She wanted to go past her.

There was something that Spectra and I had both been ignoring - the zombie down the howlway who was chanting toward Cleo. I couldn’t hear her because my scream tends to block out every sound around me, but Draculaura had figured out what was going on and careened down at Zombetty, flying into and out of her hair.

She transformed quickly into her vampire state and although Draculaura is a smaller vampire, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t powerful. She hauled Zombetty’s arms up behind her back as the zombie let out a groan. Draculaura clamped her hands over Zombetty’s face, cutting off the flow of the spell.

Cleo dropped to the ground, no longer swirling with sand or with that strange, dark, eldritch look in her eyes. She looked wounded and in pain.

“Help!” I cried out, a normal cry this time, not my wail. It still carried far.

I could hear a thumping sound down the hallway and realized it was the sound of someone tripping over his own feet.

Neighthan appeared beside me, resting hands on Cleo’s body.

I didn’t realize that he had healing power, but that made sense from his unicorn heritage. His hands seemed to glow slightly and the glow spread across Cleo’s body, knitting her back together.

She began to breathe more steadily, still appearing to be in pain, but it was now a controlled pain.

Neighthan turned to put his healing hands on me, but I directed them over to Clawdeen’s ears. He held them tightly over the whimpering werewolf, helping her to heal.

After he had healed Frankie, I finally let him touch me. His hands were warm and I wasn’t sure if the butterflies in my stomach were from his healing power or from something else. I did notice that he was gazing into my eyes as intensely as I was gazing into his.

I wanted to kiss him, but I knew that it wasn’t the right time. He still needed to heal Draculaura.

“Draculaura”, I called out, remembering that she was holding Zombetty, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine... actually, I could use a little help if someone is free?”

Clawdeen rushed down the hallway to help Draculaura, but before she got there, Frankie had sent a bolt of electricity down the hallway, knocking out the zombie while still somehow keeping Draculaura from getting struck.

“Sorry” Frankie said, “I have just about had enough of Zombetty’s violence.”

“Well done, ghoul” Clawdeen clapped to Frankie.

****

“Fighting on school property?!” The Headmistress hollered at them, “Violence in this school! I can’t believe that this has happened... and from all of you!”

“Headmistress, you don’t understand” we all said at once.

Frankie quieted everyone, “Zombetty used some kind of spell to control Cleo. Zombobby had set up Cleo’s locker so that her artifacts would spill all over her and then Zombetty started chanting and controlling Cleo after she got spelled. None of us were trying to fight. We were protecting Bensheemin.”

“Ah, Bensheemin again.” The Headmistress said, “You see, I am finding this a bit difficult to wrap my head around. Zombies don’t generally use spells. It’s not really their style and the only person I found unconscious in the hallway was Zombetty. All of you seemed perfectly healthy.”

“I don’t know about the spells” Neighthan spoke up, “But in terms of the health of everyone else - that was because of my healing power. When I got there, everyone was in a rough state.”

“Then why did you only heal some of the students? Why not Zombetty?”

“Honestly, because everyone explained what had happened and I didn’t want to wake Zombetty up until I was sure that she couldn’t control Cleo any more.”

“There are just too many coincidences here.” The Headmistress said.

“But look at how many of us are confirming this story.” Said Frankie, “Would Draculaura, Clawdeen, Neighthan, Cleo, and Bensheemin all be telling the same story if it was a lie?”

“It would be if you were ganging up on Zombetty and persecuting her, which is what she has been consistently telling me.”

“Wait, Spectra was there too” I said, “Where is she. She might be able to shed some light on all of this.”

Suddenly all of our phones buzzed. Cleo pulled hers out before the Headmistress would forgive her and then turned it so that we could all see it.

Spectra was on the screen.

“I am sending this out to every student at Monster High because I am worried that the administration of this school won’t allow us all to view it. I want everyone to be aware of a lie that has been spread around this school. Zombobby and Zombetty have been harassing a new student here at Monster High, Bensheemin Wails because he is gay. I know that you have all heard that he was the one persecuting them for their religion, but that is just not the case. Their behaviour began as slaps and throwing paper in class but escalated quickly to a violent incident that I am sure that many of you have heard about. Here is footage of that incident showing Zombetty threatening Cleo, and then Zombobby setting up artifacts in Cleo’s locker, and finally Zombetty using a spell to get Cleo to attack Bensheemin. The administration won’t want to show this video because they want us to believe that Monster High is a place of diversity and acceptance, but it isn’t... at least, not entirely. We still have a lot of work to do. Bigotry still exists and it will always exist. It won’t go away by just being ignored. It will only go away if we keep working to keep it away. If we keep extending our hands in friendship but also don’t keep silent when we see oppression taking place. It’s up to us to make our school a better place.”

Spectra’s face disappeared off of the screen. I was really worried that she would end up being suspended for everything she just did for us... for me. But it meant a lot to have someone stick up for me and set the record straight.

I wasn’t the only one to tear up in the Headmistress’ office and I pulled my new friends into a hug.

“I see.” said the Headmistress, “I am thankful that Spectra brought this to our attention. I promise you that there is not a conspiracy to keep secrets from our students, nor is there any reluctance on our part to protect our students. I am very sorry, Bensheemin, that you have experienced all of this and that I couldn’t get the evidence together in time to prevent everything that happened here. I hope you know that I will get to the bottom of all of this and I will be making sure that you are safe here t our school as I want all students to be safe.”

“Perhaps” chimed in Draculaura, “We could work together on making the school a safe place for folks like Bensheemin?”

“That is very kind, but-“

“Perhaps you would give us permission to start a gay-straight alliance here at Monster High to let LGBTQ2IA students know that they have a safe space here?”

“I’m not sure we could find enough-“

“We will all join it.” Frankie chimed in, “We don’t need to all be LGBTQ2IA to join it. It’s open to straight students too.” She looked around “Oh, sorry, I shouldn’t speak for everyone.”

“I’m in” said Cleo.

“Me too” said Clawdeen.

“I’ve been waiting for something like this at Monster High for a long time.” Neighthan said “I just didn’t know what to call it. I’ve never heard of a GSA before. I didn’t know if there were any other gay students at Monster High.” He looked deep into my eyes. That fluttery feeling was definitely not unicorn healing magic.

“Well, that seems like a really good start to a school club” The Headmistress said, “I will arrange everything with the Board of Deaducation.”

“What about Zombobby and Zombetty?” Asked Frankie.

“They will be dealt with and I will make sure that they don’t hurt any of you again.”

“How can you really guarantee that, though?” Asked Clawdeen.

“I suspect that they will want to leave.” Said the Headmistress, “Their own bigotry will make them want to leave.”

And she was right. The Greys pulled Zombetty and Zombobby out of school after the Headmistress told them about the incident at school and informed them that there would now be a GSA at our school and that she was going to take the role of faculty lead for it. Mr. and Mrs. Grey expressed their disgust at the school and threatened to go to the Board of Deaducation, but they ended up pulling Zombetty and Zombobby from school and enrolling them in a religious school.

The GSA has a lot more members now and it turns out that there were a lot of folks at Monster High who identified as LGBTQ2IA who felt more comfortable coming out to other students in the group.

I’m not saying everything is perfect. Nothing is every perfect and bigotry always exists... but I am saying that we had some ideas in place to help make the school a bit better and I felt like we were on the right track. I was also incredibly excited to finally have a group of friends to call my own and who I really felt valued me.


End file.
